Tal
Karolinska Institutet, Nobel Forum 15 februari 2007
Lars Leijonborg, Utbildningsminister

Invigning av INCF

(Det talade ordet gäller.)

It is with great pleasure I participate in this inauguration. This opening reflects an international development that we never have experienced before in history. International collaborations are growing more and more important. Never before have there been so many researchers in the world. Never before have there been so much scientific information. Never before has there been so much exchange of information as now.

Exchange of scientific results has always been the basis for development of knowledge. None, or at least very little, excellence can develop alone.
Now more than ever, the common use of large research instruments and facilities are necessary for obtaining new data. Considering the ever increasing costs for this advanced equipment, we must construct and run it by joining our resources. The international development with more and more countries increasing the investments for R&D will also give us more reasons for cooperation.

The latest development in life sciences is giving us an enormous amount of new data to process. These amounts are virtually impossible to handle in an effective way without the introduction of ICT as a supporting tool. But in doing so, it is also essential to create systems that enable us to share data with other scientists. The creation of the INCF-secretariat is certainly a part of this exciting international development.

The scientific achievements in neurosciences will help us to understand a number of diseases where we so far only have been able to watch and comfort patients. The introduction of ICT in the neural sciences may be the tool we need to put the information we already have in place and combine it so that a greater understanding of the brain and the nervous system is achieved. Possibly, more research can be the key we need to finally find a cure for some serious diseases.

The creation of INCF is a great example of the fact that different scientific disciplines can support each other. Neuroscience cannot make it alone without the computer power to process the available data. ICT gives us direct access to global knowledge and helps us process it.

The decision to localize INCF to the Karolinska institute was taken before I was appointed minister. I will not try to take the credit for this. The work that has been done to win the bid has shown the strength of letting our universities make their own priorities and to let them have enough resources to make such priorities. The Karolinska institute and the Royal Institute of Technology have together made an impressive joint effort for hosting INCF. The Foundation for Strategic Research has given them good support. We thank you for this effort.

I would also like to extend an appreciation to OECD for setting attention on neuroinformatics and its need for solutions and also for making such a solid work in analyzing the needs for neuroinformatics, long before we in politics knew that we needed it. The Global Science Forum and its secretariat, represented here today by Stefan Michalowski, has played a central part in this process.

I would like to give a grateful remark to Sten Grillner and his colleagues in the working group in getting the OECD-study to a successful completion. Without your work, we wouldn't have been here today.

I would also like to extend my welcome to Professor Jan Bjaalie to Karolinska institute and to Stockholm. I hope you will enjoy working here.

Finally, I wish the scientists in neurosciences all the best in jointly going digital and hope that INCF will be an important instrument for their work wherever in the world they are working.